Interested to hear what people think is the most transparent sounding limiter...

 

fabfilter pro L2 when set to transparent preset mode

 

Fabfilter Pro-L2 on modern mode

 

Clip peaks first. Use oversampling, etc. Aliasing and intermodulation distortions for clicking sounds are clicking sounds. For noise is noise. So just dont clip tonal sounds or do little, moderately. Then limiter.
So you will get punchy, almost "dynamically sounding" squashed audio, less compressed, almost natural sound. And it will be too loud as hot.
Use oversampling, true peak limiting, some lookahead if it is there in limiter and some output ceiling. And dither to 16 bit for cd or other 16 bit output. Or dither to 24 bit for hires 24bit audio output.
For lossy audio dither doesnt work, or work not so much productively. So dither 100% for lossless, cd, hires etc. Light or moderate noiseshaping a la izotope mbit+. Or classic tpdf.
SRC from high sample rates to 44100 is better to do BEFORE limiting to avoid peak rising or clipping which can appear after SRC after limiter.
SRC down - clipping - dc offset correction - limiter - dither.

Kazrog KClip 2 pro / Kclip 3
SIR standardclip
V-Clip (soon! Extremely pro advanced clipper)

Loudmax by Thomas Mundt is free limiter with fixed 1.25 lookahead or so. Latest version released days ago (v1. 27)
FabFilter Pro-L2
iZotope Ozone 8 Advanced (maximizer)
AOM invisible limiter v1 or G2
IK T-Racks 5 Stealth Limiter
TDR Limiter6 GE latest
DMG Limitless
Eventide newfangled elevate
Toneboosters barricade 3/4
Flux pure limiter, elixir
Voxengo elephant 4.6+
Nugen ISL2
Sonnox oxford limiter
Brainworx bx
TBProAudio LA xLimit 2, and SLM2 maybe
PSP Xenon
Airwindows clippers, limiters

Src: sox, finalcd, izotope rx advanced, dbpoweramp 16.6+, shibatch ssrc, weiss saracon, ez cd 8.22+, etc.

Maybe it is enough.

 

Last edited: Apr 8, 2019

Voxengo Elephant or AOM Invisible Limiter G2 are best clean.
Fabfilter Pro-L2 is most clean on SAFE, but less than the others.

 

Sonnox Oxford Limiter v3 unbeatable.

 

Limiter №6 mastering modular limiter

https://vladgsound.wordpress.com/downloads/

 

Last edited: Apr 8, 2019

Flux Elixir multistage limiting.

 

Mild Pump Milk said a lot of things one needs to know about maximising loudness. Great tips, mate!

Especially the one about clipping transients before limiting. Doing that makes the limiter work less hard, and thus you get cleaner sounding track. If you do that, a lot of limiters could do the job perfectly fine.

Some of the best limiters that deal with inter-sample peaks precisely are: Elephant with x8 oversampling, TB Barricade, and TDL Limiter 6 which is a more advanced version of VladG's Limiter No.6. Limiter 6 is really great because it comes with great mastering compressor, clipper, and limiter. All in one loudness maximising plugin.

Tips about SRC down before limiting, and removing DC offset [Elephant has a great DC offset remover] are also very important. For SRC down I suggest you to use Voxengo R8Brain program, which is free, and more transparent than most of the far more expensive programs or plugins.

Let me just add another tip: don't make it too loud. It sounds like shit, and it's on its way out, since all online streaming services employ some kind of loudness normalisation, making really loud tracks sound like shit in comparison to those that are less loud. Use a good metering plugin like TB EBU Loudness to get the level right.

Cheers!

 

Last edited: Apr 8, 2019

Final LOUD
K-Clip
Ozone 8 . use SRC down 16 bit , dither medium and noise medium , limit peaks and dc offset ON
Elephant for loud

 

My List:

1. Sonnox Oxford Limiter v3
2. DMG Audio Limitless (my default nowadays)
3. A.O.M. Invisible Limiter G2
4. Waves L2
5. PSP Xenon
6. WaveArts FinalPlug

Never tested, but for Tom Hades most transparent is:
StandardCLIP by SIR Audio Tools
https://www.siraudiotools.com/StandardCLIP.php

 

Last edited by a moderator: May 4, 2019

Don't forget my new love, Newfangled Audio Elevate.
https://www.mixonline.com/technology/review-newfangled-audio-elevate-bundle

 

• Weiss DS-1
• FF Pro L2
• Your own volume automation

 

This is one hellova good "loudness plugin", too. This is what can make your tracks sound great on these streaming services.

I wonder if Bandcamp uses loudness normalisation. Anyone knows?

https://www.meterplugs.com/loudness-penalty

 

-------------------------------------------------
Why is it recommended to soft clip transients for more punch?
https://www.reddit.com/r/audioengin...s_it_recommended_to_soft_clip_transients_for/
-----------

 

Last edited: Apr 12, 2019

This is based on a gimmick that may not even work (I think Izotope plugins also have such mode in the settings):
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mel_scale

Criticism
Stevens' student, Donald D. Greenwood, who had worked on the mel scale experiments in 1956, considers the scale biased by experimental flaws. In 2009 he posted to a mailing list,[19]

I would ask, why use the Mel scale now, since it appears to be biased? If anyone wants a Mel scale they should do it over, controlling carefully for order bias and using plenty of subjects – more than in the past – and using both musicians and non-musicians to search for any differences in performance that may be governed by musician/non-musician differences or subject differences generally.



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bark_scale
This one is better, still not perfect, because not everyone's listening apparatus is the same, of course. Maybe we will see another set of plugins based on it some day.

I'm using DMG Limitless as a final maximizer.
Anyway, most plugins do roughly the same job.
I don't even get what's the point of getting super squashed anymore, if your music is going to be turned down by the streaming service/TV/radio

 

ozone maximazer is very transparent , soft clip before and after . clip -0.1 only

 

Want the best limiter on the market? SIR Audio StandardCLIP.

 

In 2019, Mastering Limiters are so hardcore overrated, it's rediculous. Since the war for squeezing out every single bit to get as close as possible to the 0 dBFS ceiling with a a dynamic range < 6 is over, there's just no need to be soo picky about them. Because unless they have to deal with super slammed mixes most of them work very well within their specs. I just use them to prevent clipping and not for creating a sound with them on the mixbus - that's for noobs only!

For simplicity I still use Waves L2 and sometimes FabFilter Pro L, for having nice visual feedback. The most transparent imo is DMG Audio Limitless, which is probably the most complicated/complex of them. My Freeware pick would be VladG Limiter No. 6.

 

Last edited: Apr 13, 2019

the best clip is kazrog - k-clip but need one good computer

Others great clip
stillwell - event horizon
boz digital - litlle clip
audio assault - freakClip